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Following Atatürk in Israel: Public Spaces dedicated to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Israel and the possibility of “Turkish-Jews”
Abstract
There are four public spaces in Israel dedicated to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first president of Turkey: the Atatürk Forest in Mount Carmel, planted by immigrants from Turkey in 1948; the Atatürk Memorial Park in Bat Yam, opened by the municipality of Bat Yam in 1998; the Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Plaza in the old city of Beersheba, constructed by the Turkish government and the municipality of Beersheba in 2002; and the Ataturk Garden in the Arkadaş Turkish Community Center in the city of Yehud, created by the same center’s administrators in 2003. Each public space plays a significant role within the identification practices of the Jews of Turkey in Israel, who also often identify as “Turkish-Jews,” as well as within the local, national, and transnational politics of heritage of Israeli and Turkish governments. Dedicating multiple public spaces to Atatürk in Israel strikes a parallel with the Turkish state’s nation-wide practice of naming various public spaces after the first president and adorning them with his statues. Each public space, with its contemporary usage or abandonment, tells the multifaceted story of Turkish-Jewish identification in Israel. This presentation investigates the production history and contemporary usage of these four public places in order to flesh out the ongoing shift in the identification of the Jews of Turkey in Israel. By combining archival research with ethnographic inquiry, I analyze the history of production and spatial semantics of these public spaces in order to understand and complicate the condition of “Turkish Jews” in Turkey and Israel. What does comparing similar public places in Turkey and Israel tell us about the identification practices of minorities in Turkey, and of the so-called Turkish diaspora abroad? Following the critiques of scholars such as Edward Said and Ella Shohat regarding the use of history, space, and memory in the Palestinian/Israeli context, how can we situate these spaces within national (Israeli) and transnational (Turkish) identifications? What advantages and disadvantages does the comparative method have in the questioning of the condition of “Turkish Jews,” especially given the current tense condition of Turkish-Israeli relations? With this presentation, I aim to contribute to discussions of comparative cultural studies in the Middle East, with a specific emphasis on Palestine/Israel and Turkey, as well as discussions of nationalism and transnational identification in the region.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Israel
Sub Area
Transnationalism